John Paul was born at Arbigland, Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, Scotland, 6 July
1747. Apprenticed to a merchant at age 13, he went to sea in the brig Friendship to
learn the art of seamanship. At 21, he received his first command, the brig John.

After several successful years as a merchant skipper in the
West Indies trade, John Paul emigrated to the British colonies in North America and there
added "Jones" to his name. At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Jones was
in Virginia. He cast his lot with the rebels, and on 7 December 1775, he was commissioned
first lieutenant in the Continental Navy, serving aboard Esek Hopkins' flagship Alfred.

As First Lieutenant in Alfred, he was the first to
hoist the Grand Union flag on a Continental warship. On 1 November 1777, he commanded the Ranger,
sailing for France. Sailing into Quiberon Bay, France, 14 February 1778, Jones and Admiral
La Motte Piquet changed gun salutes  the first time that the Stars and Stripes, the
flag of the new nation, was officially recognized by a foreign government.

Early in 1779, the French King gave Jones an ancient East
Indiaman Duc de Duras, which Jones refitted, repaired, and renamed Bon Homme
Richard as a compliment to his patron Benjamin Franklin. Commanding four other ships
and two French privateers, he sailed 14 August 1779 to raid English shipping.

On 23 September 1779, his ship engaged the HMS Serapis
in the North Sea off Famborough Head, England. Richard was blasted in the initial
broadside the two ships exchanged, loosing much of her firepower and many of her gunners.
Captain Richard Pearson, commanding Serapis, called out to Jones, asking if he
surrendered. Jones' reply: "I have not yet begun to fight!"

It was a bloody battle with the two ship literally locked in
combat. Sharpshooting Marines and seamen in Richard's tops raked Serapis
with gunfire, clearing the weather decks. Jones and his crew tenaciously fought on , even
though their ship was sinking beneath them. Finally, Capt. Pearson tore down his colors
and Serapis surrendered.

Bon Homme Richard sunk the next day and Jones was
forced to transfer to Serapis.

After the American Revolution, Jones served as a Rear Admiral
in the service of Empress Catherine of Russia, but returned to Paris in 1790. He died in
Paris at the age of 45 on 18 July 1792. He was buried in St. Louis Cemetery, which
belonged to the French royal family. Four years later, France's revolutionary government
sold the property and the cemetery was forgotten.

In 1845, Col. John H. Sherburne began a campaign
to return Jones' remains to the United States. He wrote Secretary of the Navy George
Bancroft and requested the body be brought home aboard a ship of the Mediterrean Squadron.
Six years later, preliminary arrangements were made, but the plans fell through when
several of Jones' Scottish relatives objected. Had they not, another problem would have
arisen. Jones was in an unmarked grave and no one knew exactly where that was.

American Ambassador Horace Porter began a systematic search
for it in 1899. The burial place and Jones' body was discovered in April 1905. President
Theodore Roosevelt sent four cruisers to bring it back to the U.S., and these ships were
escorted up the Chesapeake Bay by seven battleships.

On 26 January 1913, the remains of John Paul Jones were laid
to rest in the crypt of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Md. Today, a Marine
honor guard stands duty whenever the crypt is open to the public. Public visiting hours
are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on
Sundays.

JONES, PAUL,
(originally John Paul,) a nautical genius of no ordinary character and
endowments, was born at Arbigland, in the parish of Kirkbean, and
stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in the month of July, 1747. He was the reputed
son of John Paul, who acted as gardener to Mr Craik of Arbigland, by his
wife, who had been cook to the same gentleman. It was generally believed,
however, that Mr Craik was the real father of this extraordinary
adventurer. The education of Paul Jones—to use the name which he assumed
in after life —was in no respect different from that usually given in
Scotland to boys of his rank; and it is not recorded that he showed any
symptoms, while at school, of that capacity by which he was undoubtedly
distinguished in advanced life. From his earliest years he manifested a
decided predilection for a seafaring life, and at the age of twelve, was
apprenticed as a mariner to a Mr Young, a respectable merchant in
Whitehaven, whence he made his first voyage in 1760, in the ship
Friendship of that port, under the care of a captain Benson, for the
Rappahannoc, Virginia. Living on the shore of the Solway, all the
amusements and ideas of young Paul seem to have been from his very cradle
maritime. While yet a mere child he hoisted his mimic flag, rendezvoused
his tiny fleet, and gave forth his orders to his imaginary captains, with
all the consequence of a veteran commander. The town of Dumfries was at
this period deeply engaged in American trade, particularly in importing
tobacco, and the Nith being too shallow to float the larger vessels up to
the town, their cargoes were discharged at Carse-thorn, on the Galloway
coast, where the subject of this memoir was a daily observer of their
operations, and not unfrequently ventured to challenge the modes of
procedure followed by experienced seamen. Here, too, he had early and
abundant opportunities of becoming acquainted with the colonists engaged
in that traffic, whose bold and liberal sentiments seem, at a very early
period of his life, to have made the New World, as he afterwards expressed
himself, "the country of his fond election." These early impressions were
doubtless aided by the circumstance of an elder brother having settled
there, and being in the full enjoyment of the peace and the plenty with
which, so long as the states were submissive colonies of Great Britain, it
was universally admitted the inhabitants were generally blessed. With this
brother he made his abode during the time his ship was in the Rappahannoc
on his first voyage, and most probably on his subsequent voyages; which
could not fail in some degree to have attached him to the country, though
he had been devoid of any prepossessions in its favour. The early
indications of genius, which we have noticed above, were fully supported
in his new station. His singular intelligence and propriety of conduct
excited the wonder, and, in some degree, the respect of his ship-mates, at
the same time that they gained him the esteem and the confidence of his
employer, who promised to give him the proof of his approbation by
appointing him to the command of one of his ships. Unfortunately for both
parties, untoward circumstances prevented the master from having it in his
power to pay this substantial tribute of respect to the merits of his
faithful apprentice, whose time having expired, he entered to the command
of a slave ship, and made several voyages to the coast of Africa in
prosecution of that disgraceful traffic. How long he continued in this
trade his biographers have not told us; but to his honour they have stated
that he felt disgusted with the employment, and at length "confined his
services to the command of vessels engaged in a more reputable and
legitimate commerce." In the year 1773, the death of his brother in
Virginia, without having left any children, called him over to that
country to look after the settlement of his affairs, on which occasion,
all his transatlantic predilections being revived, he resolved to withdraw
from the dangers and the vicissitudes of a seafaring life, to settle in
the colony, and to devote the remainder of his days to the peaceful
pursuits of rural industry and philosophic retirement.

There is nothing more
curious in the history of the human mind than that satiety and languor
which so frequently come over the most active spirits. Cowley often had
thoughts of burying himself in the woods of America, where he fancied he
would be happy, in seclusion from all intercourse with the busy and
bustling portions of society: Cromwell, with all his unconquerable daring
and unquenchable activity--and Hambden, one of the brightest, the boldest,
and the most disinterested spirits that have adorned any age or country,
despairing of the state of political affairs in their native land, sought
to escape their uneasy sensations, and to secure religious peace and
happiness, by the same expedient. Akin, perhaps, to these cases was that
of Paul Jones, whose mind seems fromthe first to have
been replete with lofty aspirations, fitting him for greatness, while his
connexions in his own country were of a nature to prevent his ever
gratifying them. We can easily conceive this bold and enthusiastic man
sensible ofthe superiority of his powers above those of most other
men, but fretting at the cold obstructions which were put before him, by
the rules and habits of society in his own country, and also perhaps at
the notoriety of his ignoble origin; therefore preferring to lose himself
in an American forest, where, if he did not gain any distinction, he would
not at least be esteemed as lower than his personal merit warranted. Had
the colonies been in a state of tranquillity, Jones would probably have
spent the remainder of his days as a simple colonist, or perhaps gone back
to sea, to escape the monotony of a life but little suited to his
faculties. The country, however, was now in a state of high effervescence,
which was every day increasing, and which called forth the energies, such
as they were, of every individual among them, either on the one side or
the other. Great dissatisfaction had for a long period been prevalent
respecting the measures of the British government in reference to the
colonies, and in the speculations of the colonists with regard to the
steps necessary to be taken for counteracting these measures, Jones found
the tedium of his retirement wonderfully relieved. Open resistance was no
sooner proposed, than he found that he had mistaken the natural bent of
his genius, which was much more turned towards action than solitary
speculation; and when Congress, in the close of the year 1775, began to
equip a naval force to assist in asserting American independence, he
stepped boldly forward to offer his service. He was at once appointed to
be first lieutenant aboard the Alfred, one of the only two ships belonging
to the Congress; and in that capacity hoisted with his own hands for the
first time the flag of independent America. In the course of a few months,
by his activity and success, he gained the entire confidence of the marine
committee, and from the hands of the president received a captain’s
commission. In the end of the year 1777, he was sent to France, in command
of the Ranger, a new sloop of war, with despatches containing an account
of the victory obtained by the colonists at Saratoga. As a reward for the
important services he had already rendered to the Americans, it was
ordered that he should be promoted to the command of the Indian, a fine
frigate built for the Congress at Amsterdam, the Ranger, at the same time,
acting under his orders; but the American commissioners at Paris, from
motives of policy, assigned the Indian over to the king of France. Captain
Jones, of course, remained in command of the Ranger, with which he
convoyed a fleet of merchant-men to Quiberon Bay, and there, from the
French commandant, received the first salute that had ever been given to
the American flag. Highly indignant at the resolution taken by the British
governments to treat every colonist who supported Congress in their aims
at independence as traitors, and emulous of the exploits of some British
seamen on the American coast, Jones soon after entered the Irish channel,
and on the night of the 22nd of April came to anchor in the Solway firth,
almost in sight of the trees which sheltered his native cottage. The place
must have awakened many strange associations; but they were of no friendly
import. With thirty-one volunteers, he sailed in two row boats for the
English side of the firth, with intent to burn the shipping (upwards of
two hundred sail) in the harbour of Whitehaven. This bold and hazardous
project he had certainly executed, if the receding tide had not retarded
his progress so much, that the day began to dawn before he reached the
shore; as it was, he could scarcely have failed had he been seconded by
his followers. The smaller of the boats he sent to the north of the port,
to set fire to the ships, whilst he himself passed southwards to secure
the fort. The morning was cold, and the sentinels, suspecting nothing less
than the approach of an enemy, were in the guard-room; a circumstance of
which Jones knew well how to take advantage. Climbing up by the shoulders
of one of his men, he crept through one of the embrasures, and was
promptly followed by all his company. Making fast the door of the
guard-room, he spiked every gun on the fort, thirty-six in number, and,
without having hurt a single individual, proceeded to join the party who
had it in charge to burn the ships. A false alarm had deterred this party
from executing their orders. Jones, however, proceeded to fire the ships
within his reach; but the inhabitants were by this time alarmed, and
hasting to the protection of the port; and he was compelled with his small
party to retreat, after having set fire to three ships, one of which only
was totally destroyed. This achievement cannot be denied the praise of
singular daring; yet there is something so unnatural in making war upon
one’s native land, and especially one’s native city, improving all the
knowledge and the associations of early years for the purposes of
destruction, that every generous mind revolts at the idea, and cannot
award the praise which, it may be admitted, would otherwise be due to the
undertaking. But this attempt was only the first exploit which signalized
the 22nd of April. Early in the forenoon, he landed with a part of his
crew at St Mary’s Isle, on the Galloway coast, the beautiful residence of
the earl of Selkirk, whom he hoped to have surprised, and carried off a
prisoner to America, that he might serve as a hostage for the security of
such of the colonists as should fall into the hands of the British.
Happily for his lordship, he was not at home, and Jones, as he approached
the house, and learned that there were only ladies within it, wished to
return to his ship without farther procedure; but his followers had no
such exalted ideas. In venturing upon an undertaking so hazardous, they
were influenced by the hope of plunder, which, being now in view, they
refused to relinquish. He succeeded, however, so far, that they agreed to
offer no violence to any one, that they should not enter the house, and
that the officers, having made their demand, should accept of what might
be put into their hands without further inquiry. These stipulations were
punctually fulfilled; but the inmates of the house were not aware of them,
and, terrified for their lives, were glad to redeem them by delivering up
the whole family plate, which was carried off in triumph by the sailors,
who neither understood nor cared for the discredit, which it brought upon
their intrepid commander and the cause they served. The circumstance was,
as he probably foresaw, improved with great effect to his disadvantage. To
heighten the odium of the affair, it was industriously but most falsely
given out that the father of Jones had been gardener to the earl of
Selkirk, and that it was from this circumstance he had learned all the
localities of the estate, which enabled him to commit the robbery without
danger either to himself or his marauding crew. Not one of Jones’s
relations had ever been in the service of lord Selkirk; and he showed that
he had a spirit far above the meanness imputed to him, by buying the whole
of the articles from the captors, who claimed them as their right by the
usages of war, and, at a subsequent period, restoring them, in their
original packages, to the noble owner. In a correspondence which was
carried on between Jones and lady Selkirk relative to the affair, her
ladyship most gratefully acknowledged the generosity and the integrity of
his character.

But these exploits on shore
did not exhaust the good fortune of Jones. The very next day, in the bay
of Carrick Fergus, he fell in with the Drake, a king’s shipof
twenty guns, and after a desperate resistance, in which the English
captain and his first lieutenant were both killed, made her his prize,
with which, and another large ship, he returned to Brest, after an absence
of twenty-eight days. In this short period, besides destroying a number of
valuable ships, he had thrown the coasts both of Scotland and Ireland into
the deepest consternation. This cruise, short as it was, occasioned the
British government immense sums of money for the fortification of
harbours, and it was the ostensible cause of embodying the Irish
volunteers, a measure of which we have yet only a few of the consequences.

Notwithstanding the
brilliant success that had attended his exertions, Jones was now subjected
to no small degree of mortification. As a token of good-will to the United
States, the French ministry had promised to furnish him with a ship,
aboard of which he was to hoist the American flag; but after multiplied
applications, and a number of written memorials, the engagement seemed to
be forgotten or disregarded. Wearied out with the delays and apologies
which he was daily receiving, Jones set out for Paris to make his
application to the French ministry in person, in consequence of which he
obtained the command of the Duras, a ship of forty guns, the name of
which, in compliment to a saying of poor Richard, "If you would have your
business done, come yourself," he changed to Le bon homme Richard.
In this vessel, badly manned and poorly furnished, Jones sailed with a
little squadron, to which he acted as commodore. This squadron consisted
of the Alliance, of thirty-six guns, the Pallas of thirty-two, the Serf of
eighteen, the Vengeance of twelve, and two privateers, who were promised
their share of the prizes that might be made. Having taken a number of
prizes, the Alliance, the Serf, and the privateers deserted him, in order
to pursue their own plans singly. The courage and skill of the commodore,
however, did not forsake him, and after again alarming the coasts of
Ireland, he sailed by the North Sea round to Leith, in the roads of which
he appeared with his own ship, the Richard, accompanied by the Pallas and
the Vengeance, in the month of September, evidently determined to seize
upon the guard ship and two cutters that lay in the roads, and to lay
Leith and perhaps the city of Edinburgh under contribution. The wind,
however, which was fair when he made his appearance, shifted during the
night, and the next day he continued working up the firth with great
labour and slow progress. While he was thus employed, a boat from the
shore, sent out by an official character, who mistook his ships for
British, informed Jones that he was greatly afraid of a visit from that
desperate buccaneer Paul Jones, and begging that he would send him some
powder and shot. Highly amused with his mistake, the good-humoured
republican sent him a barrel ofgunpowder, with a civil answer to
quiet his fears, and a modest apology for not including shot in the
present he had sent him. In the mean time he relaxed nothing in his
exertions to come at the ships of war in the roads, and other two tacks
would have laid him along side of them, when a sudden gale of wind
sweeping down the firth sunk one of his prizes, and carried his squadron
irresistibly out to sea. The captains of the Pallas and Vengeance were so
much dejected at this accident, that they could not be prevailed upon to
renew the attempt. His little squadron shortly after fell in with the
homeward-bound Baltic fleet, under convoy of his majesty’s ships the
Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. A desperate engagement ensued, in
which Jones displayed the most consummate skill, dauntless intrepidity,
and perfect presence of mind. The battle was obstinately contested; but
the Countess of Scarborough was at last obliged to strike to the Palms,
and the Serapis to the Bon Homme Richard, which was so shattered in the
action, that next morning, after all hands had left her, she went to the
bottom. Though the Serapis was nearly in the same condition, Jones hoisted
his flag aboard of her, and under jury masts, with some difficulty,
steered her along with his other prizes into the Texel. He now used all
his influence with the French court to have his prisoners exchanged
against American prisoners in England, in which he had the pleasure of
succeeding to the utmost of his wishes, receiving, in a short time after,
a letter from Benjamin Franklin, the American minister at Paris, which
informed him, "that he (Franklin) had just completed the noble work, which
he (Jones) had so nobly begun, by giving liberty to all the Americans that
then languished in England." The French ambassador at the Hague was at the
same time ordered to communicate to commodore Jones, the high sense which
his majesty, the king of France, entertained of his merits, and the
personal esteem he bore for his character, and, especially, for his
disinterested humanity.

Jones now took the command
of the Alliance, the captain of which had been summoned to Paris to answer
for his insubordination, in deserting the commodore on the coast of
Ireland; but his situation was now perilous in the extreme. Summoned to
deliver him up to the vengeance of the English government as a pirate and
a rebel, the Dutch were constrained to order him out to sea, where an
English squadron was watching to intercept him. From this dilemma he could
have been saved by accepting of a commission from the king of France,
whose ambassador earnestly pressed him to adopt that alternative; but he
thought himself bound in honour to decline the offer, and determined, at
whatever hazard, toabide by and support the flag of the country
which he had, upon the maturest reflection, adopted. "Fortune favours the
brave" is a maxim we see every day exemplified. Jones weighed anchor and
escaped through the straits of Dover, almost under the eyes of the English
men-of-war, all of which had strict orders to secure him, and were,
besides, inflamed against him in a high degree from the repeated defeats
that British ships had sustained at his hands.

Towards the close of the
year 1780, he sailed with important despatches for America in the ship
Ariel, and by the way meeting an English ship of twenty guns, engaged her,
and with his usual gallantry made her his prize. The king of France had,
previously to this, testified his approbation of Jones’s services, by
presenting him with a superb gold-hilted sword; and a letter from the
French minister, M. de Sartine, was now transmitted to the president of
the United States, requesting liberty "to decorate that brave officer with
the cross of the order of military merit." The letter was laid before
Congress, and, a law acceding to the proposal being passed on the 27th of
February, he was formally invested by the chevalier de la Luzerne, at a
public fete given to the members of that body. Congress, in the month of
April following, on the report of a committee, passed a vote of thanks to
the chevalier John Paul Jones, "for the zeal, prudence, and intrepidity,
with which he had sustained the honour of the American flag, for his bold
and successful enterprises to redeem from captivity those citizens of
America who had fallen under the power of the enemy, and in general for
the good conduct and eminent services by which he had added lustre to his
character and to the arms of America." No farther opportunity for
distinguishing himself occurred during the war; but, after its conclusion,
Congress, as an expression of gratitude, had a gold medal struck with
appropriate devices to perpetuate the memory of his valour, and the
singular services he had performed for the States.

In the year 1787, the
chevalier Jones, being charged with a mission to the court of Denmark,
sailed for that country in the month of November, and passing through
Paris on his way, he was strongly solicited by the agents of Russia to
take the command of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. This he declined,
but he was scarce arrived at Copenhagen, when the empress Catharine, sent
him, by a special messenger, an urgent invitation to visit St Petersburg.
After what he had performed, it would have been strange if the chevalier
Jones had not felt some reluctance to enter into the service of Russia,
where every maxim by which he had been guided during his exertions for
liberty behoved to be reversed, and where, instead of being directed by
the united voice of an intelligent people, he must regulate his conduct by
the single will of a despot. It is one of the greatest evils of despotism,
that the despot, once established, has the means of corrupting and
enslaving even the most generous minds. The chevalier Jones saw many
reasons for declining to enter into the service of Catharine; but,
flattered by her attention and kind offers, he thought he could not do
less than to wait upon and thank her in person for her friendly
intentions. For this purpose he set out instantly from Copenhagen, by the
way of Sweden, but at Gushelham found the gulf of Bothnia blocked up by
the ice. After making several unsuccessful attempts to reach Finland by
the islands, he conceived a plan for effecting his progress by doubling
the ice to the southward. With this view he sailed from Gushelham in a
boat thirty feet long, followed by a smaller one that might be hauled over
the ice, but told none of those who accompanied him what were his
intentions. Having set out early in the morning, he had by the evening got
nearly opposite Stockholm, when, instead of landing as the boatmen
expected, he drew out a pair of pistols and ordered them to proceed in the
direction he had previously determined upon. Resistance with a man of the
chevalier’s character was probably judged by the simple boatmen to be in
vain; and following his orders, with a fair wind they expected to reach
the coast of Finland by the morning. An impenetrable bar of ice, however,
defied all their efforts, nor from the state of the weather was it
possible for them to return. Their only resource was to sail for the gulf
of Finland, which they did, steering at night by a pocket compass, lighted
by the lamp of the chevalier’s carriage, and in four days, having lost the
smaller of their boats, landed at Revel in Livonia. The chevalier hasted
from Revel to St Petersburg, where he met with a most gracious reception,
and, unable any longer to hold out against the kind wishes of the empress,
entered into her service, without any stipulations but that he should not
be at any time condemned without being heard. Invested with the rank of
rear-admiral, he proceeded without delay to take the command of a fleet
stationed at the Liman or mouth of the Dnieper, destined to oppose the
Turkish fleet under the capitan Pacha. He hoisted his flag as commander of
this fleet on the 26th of May, 1788, on board the Vlodimer, and was
supported by a flotilla under the prince of Nassau, and a number of land
troops under prince Potemkin. Throughout this campaign, though it produced
little that is worthy of the notice of the historian, the chevalier Jones
had many opportunities of displaying his professional skill and the
singular intrepidity of his character; but mean jealousy and the malignant
caballing of heartless and narrow-minded courtiers, denied him the
well-earned praise that was due to his services. He was, however, on his
return to St Petersburg, as an acknowledgment of his fidelity, invested
with the order of St Anne, and informed, that in a short time he would be
called to perform a part in services of much greater importance. He had
seen enough of the Russians, however, and disgusted with the sordid
selfishness and the low sensuality that reigned in the court of Catharine,
took leave of her dominions, in the month of August, 1789. The remainder
of his days he spent partly in Holland and partly in France, devoting his
leisure hours to the arrangement of his affairs, and to the preparation of
papers which might exhibit his character and his services in their true
light to posterity. He also made a large collection of important documents
relating to the public transactions in which he had been engaged, which
will be at some future day, it is to be hoped, given to enrich the history
of the important period in which he lived. He was seized with water in the
chest, and died at Paris in the month of July, 1792. As the laws relative
to the interment of calvinists or heretics were not then abolished in
France, application was made to the national assembly, which gave free
liberty for his being buried with all public honours, and ordered a
deputation of their number to attend, one of whom pronounced an elegant
eulogium upon his character over his grave. He left among his papers a
copious memoir of his life written with his own hand, which his friends,
it has been said, had it in contemplation to publish. We cannot doubt but
that its publication would add to the history of that important era many
valuable notices, and be hailed by the public as a most valuable
contribution to the general stock of literature. From the brief sketch of
his life which we have given, the reader will be at no loss to appreciate
the character of Paul Jones, which, in his own country, has been
misrepresented by prejudice. That he was a naval genius of the first
order, his actions abundantly demonstrated. He was the man who first flung
upon the winds the flag of the United States; and he graced it by a
succession of victories, all of which were relatively of the most splendid
character. Unlike the vaunted achievements of single ships belonging to
the same nation in the late war, every one of which possessed a vast
superiority of men and of metal, Jones accomplished his purposes with
means, to all appearance, inadequate to the end, his ships being often
half rotten, only half provided in necessaries, and his sailors of the
most motley description. In every battle which he fought, superior skill
and bravery were the evident sources of victory. Nor can the circumstance
which has been so often urged against him, that of turning his arms
against his native country, detract, in the smallest degree, from his
merit. He was, be it remembered, at the commencement of the war, a regular
colonist of America, and was, therefore, no more liable to this charge,
than was any other individual out of all the thousands who at first took
up arms against Great Britain, and eventually constituted the American
republic. Less, however, can be said, for his entering the service of
Russia, which was discreditable to his generosity and love of freedom.

This comment system requires
you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an
account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or
Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these
companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All
comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator
has approved your comment.